Civilizing Cyberspace

Do we face a future where privacy is severely limited, where the divide between rich and poor has been widened by massive inequalities in access to information, and where free speech is just a memory?

Author:
by Steven E. Miller

Publisher:
Addison-Wesley

Reviewer: Danny Yee

Will the United States National Information Infrastructure
(NII) be controlled by a few massive companies, vertically
integrated to control production and distribution of information at
all levels? Or will it resemble the current Internet, where
individuals can provide as well as consume information? Do we face
a future where privacy is severely limited, where the divide
between rich and poor has been widened by massive inequalities in
access to information, and where free speech is just a memory? Can
we hope for increased accountability of governments and
corporations, a more politically active population, and educational
and economic benefits for everyone? These are the kind of questions
that Steven Miller addresses in Civilizing
Cyberspace.

Miller begins with a brief look at what the NII is and some
of the different visions of what it should be. He then surveys the
major players in the policy stakes—state, federal, and local
governments, regulatory bodies, cable TV operators, local and
long-distance telephone companies, the mass media, the computer
industry—and the complex relationships between them. This includes
such things as an overview of the various technologies that are
likely to have a role in the NII and a brief history of United
States telecommunications regulation.

After laying this groundwork, Miller presents the central
issues in four chapters. The first looks at the idea of universal
service, explaining what this means in the context of the NII and
what the options for achieving it are. The second is about the
implications of networking for politics, in particular the
potential of universal access to public information, experiments
with community free-nets and electronic democracy, and the
importance of free speech. The third tackles the complex of issues
centered around privacy, encryption and civil liberties. The fourth
is about communities: the Internet community, virtual communities,
and the use of networks in building communities.
Civilizing Cyberspace closes with a brief look
at the economic implications and possibilities of the NII
(including intellectual property rights) and a summary of the
practical actions, at all levels, that Miller sees as
crucial.

The most impressive thing about Miller's book is that it
avoids hype, overstatement, and polemic. Miller is neither a
neo-Luddite doomsayer prophesying disaster, an optimist proffering
a technological utopia, or someone so blinded by their political
prejudices that they can't communicate with those who don't share
them. He holds passionate beliefs about his subject—he is a strong
supporter of public broadcasting, government regulation to avoid
monopoly and other evils, civil liberties, government and corporate
accountability, and grassroots democracy, among other things—but
he is quite open about this and he understands that many do not
agree with him on these issues. (He briefly discusses the differing
political stances—libertarian, progressive/radical, liberal,
corporate conservative, and state socialist—most commonly brought
to bear on networking policy issues.) Even if you disagree with his
normative suggestions, his book will still be a valuable source of
information.

Civilizing Cyberspace is the best single
volume introduction to the policy issues surrounding the Internet I
have seen. Miller says he wrote it for information technology
professionals and non-technical people “piqued by all the talk
about the Information Superhighway”, but I think the most
important audience for his work consists of the politicians and
lobbyists actually involved in formulating policy. (Given the
near-unanimous passing of the lunatic Communications Decency Act
since Civilizing Cyberspace went to press,
many of these obviously need to read
it.)

While Civilizing Cyberspace is very
United States specific, it does consider international issues in
places and its overall message is very relevant in other countries.
It is unlikely that anyone will write such a book specifically
about the situation in Australia, for one thing, and if we can take
heed of the developments in the United States which Miller
describes then being a little behind in the development of
legislation about computer networks may not be such a bad
thing...

Disclaimer: I requested and received a review copy of
Civilizing Cyberspace from Addison-Wesley, but
I have no stake, financial or otherwise, in its success.

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